# Acts 07 📖 [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[Acts Overview]]. [[Acts 06]]. [[Acts 08]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts]] [[#🔗 Related Passages]] [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] [[#📄 Outline]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) #### Stephen Addresses the Council **Principle**: Knowing what you are talking about so you are ready when your moment comes. [[#Verse 01.]] Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these accusations true?” [[#Verse 02.]] This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.  [[#Verse 03.]] God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ [[Genesis 12]] [[#Verse 04.]] So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. [[#Verse 05.]] “But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet.  [[#Verse 06.]] God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. [[#Verse 07.]] ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’ [[#Verse 08.]] “God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation. [[Genesis 25]], [[Genesis 29]], [[Genesis 30]], [[Genesis 35]] ### The Patriarchs In Egypt **Principle**: God uses bad situations to our benefit. [[#Verse 09.]] “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him  [[#Verse 10.]] and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace. [[#Verse 11.]] “But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food. [[#Verse 12.]] Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some.  [[#Verse 13.]] The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh.  [[#Verse 14.]] Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all.  [[#Verse 15.]] So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors.  [[#Verse 16.]] Their bodies were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price from Hamor’s sons in Shechem. ### Moses, A Rejected Savior **Principle**: Plan of God’s Salvation [[#Verse 17.]] “As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. [[#Verse 18.]] But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.  [[#Verse 19.]] This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die. [[#Verse 20.]] “At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. [[#Verse 21.]] When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son.  [[#Verse 22.]] Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action. [[#Verse 23.]] “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.  [[#Verse 24.]] He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.  [[#Verse 25.]] Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t. [[#Verse 26.]] “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’ [[#Verse 27.]] “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked.  [[#Verse 28.]] ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’  [[Exodus 26]] [[#Verse 29.]] When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born. [[#Verse 30.]] “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. [[#Verse 31.]] When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,  [[#Verse 32.]] ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look. [[Exodus 03]] [[#Verse 33.]] “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. [[Exodus 03]] [[#Verse 34.]] I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’ [[#Verse 35.]] “So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior. [[Exodus 02]] [[#Verse 36.]] And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years. ### Israel’s Rebellion Against God **Principle**: Israel rejects God’s plan. [[#Verse 37.]] “Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’ [[Deuteronomy 18]] [[#Verse 38.]] Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us. [[#Verse 39.]] “But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.  [[#Verse 40.]] They told Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ [[Exodus 32]] [[#Verse 41.]] So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made.  [[#Verse 42.]] Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written, ‘Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings     during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel?      [[#Verse 43.]] No, you carried your pagan gods—     the shrine of Molech,     the star of your god Rephan,     and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into exile     as far away as Babylon.’ [[Amos 05]] ### God’s Real Tabernacle **Principle**: Christ Revealed. [[#Verse 44.]] “Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle with them through the wilderness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses. [[#Verse 45.]] Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David. [[#Verse 46.]] “David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.  [[#Verse 47.]] But it was Solomon who actually built it. [[#Verse 48.]] However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, [[#Verse 49.]] ‘Heaven is my throne,     and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?’     asks the Lord. ‘Could you build me such a resting place? [[#Verse 50.]] Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’ [[Isaiah 66]] ## Resisting The Holy Spirit **Principle**: God’s Word leads us to the point of decision. [[#Verse 51.]] “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!  [[#Verse 52.]] Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. [[#Verse 53.]] You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.” ## The First Christian Martyr **Principle**: Jesus stands with us when all others are gone. [[#Verse 54.]] The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.  [[#Verse 55.]] But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  [[#Verse 56.]] And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” [[#Verse 57.]] Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him  [[#Verse 58.]] and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. [[#Verse 59.]] As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” [[#Verse 60.]] He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. ## ==📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary== ###### Overall. This is Stephen showing his credentials. He was showing that he knew the OT and the story of God’s people. This would have been necessary for anyone to listen to him. They would likely have required this for anyone to think he was worth listening to. When they heard Stephen, they would have thought, “Okay, he knows the past.” - Same thing as someone saying they have a MinDiv from a good college. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ###### Verse 41. ###### Verse 42. ###### Verse 43. ###### Verse 44. ###### Verse 45. ###### Verse 46. ###### Verse 47. ###### Verse 48. ###### Verse 49. ###### Verse 50. ###### Verse 51. ###### Verse 52. ###### Verse 53. ###### Verse 54. ###### Verse 55. ###### Verse 56. ###### Verse 57. ###### Verse 58. ###### Verse 59. ###### Verse 60. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write down things that are not straight from commentary but interesting facts that ground the text in history. %% ## 🧠 Chapter Summary - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write a short paragraph (3–5 sentences) summarizing what happens in this chapter. - What is the main event or teaching? - How does this chapter fit the book’s overall story? - What stands out immediately? Anything Apologetic to point out? %% ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) - 📌 Observation 1 - 📌 Observation 2 - 📌 Observation 3 - (Add more as needed.) #### Today, I can apply this chapter by: - ✅ Application 1 - ✅ Application 2 Make these very practical: - "Trust God's timing in an uncertain situation." - "Speak truth even when it’s unpopular." Think: - What do we learn about God here? - What do we learn about people? - Are there promises, commands, or warnings? %% ##### Today, I can apply this chapter by: - ✅ Coming Soon. - ✅ Coming Soon. ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) - 📖 [Verse Reference] – "Quote of important verse." - 📖 [Verse Reference] – "Quote of another important verse." (You can link to deeper notes if you want later.) %% ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 coming soon. - 🔗 coming soon. %% Examples: - John 1:1 and Genesis 1 - Romans 5 and Genesis 3 %% ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection [[Acts 07 - SOAP]] ## 📄 Outline (‭‭Acts 7‬:‭55‬-‭56‬) But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” BI- Persecution Brings Revelation Point 1- He was full of the Holy Spirit. Point 2- He was persecuted for not being ashamed of his faith. (Peter tells us not to think it’s a good thing when we are persecuted for bad things.) Point 3- You see the light of God best in the darkest moments. ## 📂 Internal Links/Personal Notes